No Consent? Planned Parenthood Sells Organs Anyway, States Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The sixth undercover video of Planned Parenthood activities released by the Center for Medical Progress features Holly O'Donnell, a former procurement technician for StemExpress, whose job was to "consent" patients for "donation" of their baby's body parts, states the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).

O'Donnell said she felt it was inappropriate to ask a distraught, vomiting woman, who was unsure about wanting an abortion, for permission to dispose of the parts. But if the consent was not signed, and the organs were in demand, the parts might be taken anyway. "There's no way [the mothers] would know."

Planned Parenthood can argue that the money it received from companies like StemExpress was just to cover "costs," and hence evaded the law against trafficking in human organs. But taking the organs without informed consent is unethical and may violate a criminal statute, notes AAPS.

"There should be an immediate and thorough investigation of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood, particularly in light of how it takes taxpayer funding," observes AAPS General Counsel Andrew Schlafly.

According to its 2013-2014 annual report, Planned Parenthood performed more than 300,000 abortions that year. According to the video, procurement companies have representatives making rounds of various sites, matching up orders with the procedures on the schedule.

Instead of reporting this scandal, AMA Morning Rounds of Aug 12 featured a Washington Post story about a small German study said to show that the birth of a first child led to more "loss of happiness" than divorce, unemployment, or death of a partner.

But an abortion clinic is no happy place. "It's morbid," O'Donnell said. "You can hear screaming. You can hear crying.... It's terrifying."

"Most who had the fortitude to watch these videos find them shocking," states AAPS President Richard Amerling, M.D. "But Planned Parenthood's defenders are in a defensive crouch."

"Doctors must stand in defense of unborn human babies," he writes. "Since 1973, when a few liberal lawyers on the Supreme Court discovered a 'right' to abortion in the penumbras and emanations of the U.S. Constitution, more than 50 million human lives have been snuffed out in the United States."